80. Carhagouha, named by the French Saint Gabriel. Dr. J. C. Taché, of Ottawa, Canada, who has given much attention to the subject, fixes this village in the central part of the present township of Tiny, in the county of Simcoe.—MS. Letter, Feb. 11, 1880.
81. Cahiagué. Dr. Taché places this village on the extreme eastern limit of the township of Orillia, in the same county, in the bend of the river Severn, a short distance after it leaves Lake Couchiching. The Indian warriors do not appear to have launched their flotilla of bark canoes until they reached the fishing station at the outlet of Lake Simcoe. This village was subsequently known as Saint-Jean Baptiste.
82. The latitude of Champlain is here far from correct. It is not possible to determine the exact place at which it was taken. It could not, however have been at a point much below 44 deg. 7'.
83. There has naturally been some difficulty in fixing satisfactorily the site of the Iroquois fort attacked by Champlain and his allies.
The sources of information on which we are to rely in identifying the site of this fort are in general the same that we resort to in fixing any locality mentioned in his explorations, and are to be found in Champlain's journal of this expedition, the map contained in what is commonly called his edition of 1632, and the engraved picture of the fort executed by Champlain himself, which was published in connection with his journal. The information thus obtained is to be considered in connection with the natural features of the country through which the expedition passed, with such allowance for inexactness as the history, nature, and circumstances of the evidence render necessary.
The map of 1632 is only at best an outline, drafted on a very small scale, and without any exact measurements or actual surveys. It pictures general features, and in connection with the journal may be of great service.
Champlain's distances, as given in his journal, are estimates made under circumstances in which accuracy was scarcely possible. He was journeying along the border of lakes and over the face of the country, in company with some hundreds of wild savages, hunting and fishing by the way, marching in an irregular and desultory manner, and his statements of distances are wisely accompanied by very wide margins, and are of little service, taken alone, in fixing the site of an Indian town. But when natural features, not subject to change, are described, we can easily comprehend the meaning of the text.
The engraving of the fort may or may not have been sketched by Champlain on the spot: parts of it may have been and doubtless were supplied by memory, and it is decisive authority, not in its minor, but in its general features.
With these observations, we are prepared to examine the evidence that points to the site of the Iroquois fort.
When the expedition, emerging from Quinté Bay, arrived at the eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the point where the lake ends and the River St. Lawrence begins, they crossed over the lake, passing large and beautiful islands. Some of these islands will be found laid down on the map of 1632. They then proceeded, a distance, according to their estimation, of about fourteen leagues, to the southern side of Lake Ontario, where they landed and concealed their canoes. The distance to the southern side of the lake is too indefinitely stated, even if we knew at what precise point the measurement began, to enable us to fix the exact place of the landing.